Local lawyer, Lydia Sartain got the travel bug when she was 17 and had the chance to visit Rio de Janeiro for two months; and has now traveled the world with her three daughters and husband, Phillip.
“We had an exchange student when I was a senior in high school in Blairsville, she was from Brazil. When I turned 17, I flew to Rio de Janeiro to spend two months with her. It was the first time I had ever flown on a plane…at the time I thought it said a lot about me but now I realize it said more about my parents that let me go,” Sartain said. “When you travel you see that people are just the same everywhere, I think it helps you to be more understanding and more tolerant and less afraid.”

Lydia’s children have been to all 48 states in a motor home and two have been to Alaska and Hawaii.
“I feel like the greatest gift is the gift of travel,” she said.
Over the summer, Sartain visited Iceland with First Baptist pastor Dr. Bill Coates and about 10 other people and in the spring she had the chance to visit Cuba with her family.
“I had traveled with Bill to Spain one summer, my whole family went on a mission trip and he was just such a delightful traveler, so when I saw they were going to Iceland this summer, I just thought that would be a great trip. I have been to all of the other Scandinavian countries…I was just intrigued by Iceland. It’s not the typical vacation spot; to me it was more for a traveler rather than a tourist,” Lydia said. “It was such a clean, beautiful place, it’s very modern, they have a 100 percent literacy rate, their police officers don’t carry guns with a very low crime rate, it’s just so clean.
“We were in Reykjavik, they have a very vibrant music scene there and it was interesting, we would go and do things during the day and then a few of us would go out after dinner to visit…and stay until about 12 or 1 in the morning and when we came out and it would be daylight because it doesn’t dark until 3 or 4 in the morning, so that was interesting.”
The group visited glaciers, geothermal facilities, geysers and of course, tasted the local foods and specialties.
“They are known for their hotdogs, they are beef, pork and lamb…they were fabulous. They have no filler and no coloring and of course, all the meals we had…the fish is just fabulous,” she said. “We went out on a boat and saw the glaciers…in Iceland you see the pieces that are broken off and when they flip over they are bright blue and the sun will bleach them white.”
Lydia also mentioned the magical countryside in Iceland; that native Icelanders still believe is filled with fairies and elves.
“It like magic, you drive along the countryside and you see these waterfalls coming out of the side of the mountain and it’s like where did that come from and where is it going,” she said.
One great travel tip that Lydia wanted to share is that before traveling to a foreign country, to read books written by native authors.
“The thing I always do when I go on a trip is, I always study and learn a little about the country, but I also like to read some of their literature and try to find their top fiction writers. I found a book that a woman had written about the ring road that goes all the way around the island (Iceland), so I read this beautiful book about this woman and her child that went on that drive and helped me understand places and things and recipes and foods,” she said. “Before we went to Cuba, I read ‘Waiting for Snow in Havana’ from a little boy’s perspective before the revolution.
“I got that when I was in college at Young Harris, the first time I traveled overseas with Dr. Hale, he took a group to Europe for three weeks during Christmas, I read ‘The Agony and The Ecstasy’ about Michelangelo.”
In spring 2016, Lydia and her family had the chance to visit Havana, Cuba.
“It was interesting; you could just see how it was a magnificent jewel back in its day. You had all these buildings with beautiful architecture and beautiful iron work and tile but it was all run down,” she said.
“We stayed mostly in Havana and we did go to Earnest Hemingway’s house, which was fabulous. He had this beautiful view and you could see how he enjoyed and loved that country…I think the people there are really friendly.”
Hall County Travels is a blog series from the Abernathy Cochran Real Estate Group to highlight adventures taken by Hall County residents. If you have taken a trip of a lifetime recently, or know someone who has, please email: babernathy@gonorton.com.

Hall County Travels is a blog series from the Abernathy Cochran Real Estate Group to highlight adventures taken by Hall County residents. If you have taken a trip of a lifetime recently, or know someone who has, please email: babernathy@gonorton.com.